My Life as an ESL Teacher

I’ve been in Kenya now for close to three weeks – unbelievable! It’s great being home again, even if it feels a bit strange and less and less like I belong here. I’ve really enjoyed getting to be a part of my sister’s final high school days – banquet, play, choir concert, and soon graduation.

What fills most of my time though is teaching English at West Nairobi School, where I attended 3rd – 8th grade. It’s changed a lot since my years here, but its fun to be back again and part of the school life. The classes I teach are very small, so I get to interact on a much more personal level with the students, which is great. They come from all over the world, mostly Korea, but also the Netherlands, Norway, Democratic Republic of Congo, and China. Some students I tutor individually (mostly elementary) and then I also actually teach a few classes of high school and junior highers. The teacher who normally does ESL is helping sub for other classes this week, so I am now completely on my own! One of the best (and most challenging) parts has been that for two classes, I get to create my own curriculum and teach the students about Egypt. I love getting to inform my students about it and give them hopefully a more well-rounded picture of what it is like, beyond what most people study about ancient Egypt. I love my students; they keep me entertained and most of the time are very respectful and interested, despite the fact that some of them are very close to my age (and one is even older!).

My Norweigan students all dressed up for a Masai party:


Just a little over a week left of teaching; hopefully I’ll get all the hours in that I need to complete my practicum for Taylor. Sometimes I forget that beyond the lesson-planning, I have readings and papers to write to get the credit there; I think I’m falling a bit behind on that.

The job search for something in western Illinois has been somewhat fruitless so far, but I also haven’t had the time to put the effort in that I need. Inshah'allah (if God wills) though, I will find employment for the summer.

In the meantime, I’m trying to find contentment and joy in the day to day life, when everything seems a lot less exciting than last semester and I desperately miss my dear friends from study abroad and life in Egypt as well as the rest of my communities that I’ve been so disconnected from.

But God is ever good and faithful.